As is well known, steam baking is increasingly appreciated for the quality of the results; for example, it makes it possible to keep many types of food, such as meat, tender, even when they are cooked at high temperatures and in ventilated ovens, that is with forced air circulation.
Steam is generated in these ovens in various ways.
In a first case, the oven is equipped with a specially provided boiler, which is arranged outside the baking chamber. When the water is brought to a boil in the boiler, the steam is conveyed to the baking chamber of the oven. Steam production is constant, but this solution has the drawback of being more complex and cumbersome due to the overall dimensions of the equipment and the necessity of having specially provided connections.
In a second case, steam is generated directly in the baking chamber by spraying water on the heating elements. In this case, the heating elements cool down when the water hits them, and the quality of the steam is affected. To eliminate this problem, the injection of water is timed in such a way as to allow the heating elements to resume their steady state temperature. Thus the generation of steam is not constant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,635 discloses a cooking process in a ventilated oven. Water or steam are added to the air that is circulated in the baking chamber in such a quantity and times that can be adjusted on the basis of the required cooking characteristics. In particular, the steam is generated in a boiler that is separated from the oven and connected to it through a duct in which a timed valve is inserted to feed water or steam in pulses lasting from 0.3 to 1.2 seconds at intervals of 0.25 to 2 minutes.
The main objective of the present invention is to carry out a process in which the two methods of steam generation mentioned above are combined. For this purpose, a steam generator is used, in particular a low-power one of electric type, suitable to generate a certain quantity of steam in a short time at the start of the cooking cycle, and in which the quality of the steam remains constant during the phase of direct injection achieved by spraying water onto the oven heating elements.
The oven according to the present invention makes it possible to achieve faster cooking times and with excellent results.
The innovative characteristics of the oven according to the invention are defined in the attached claim 1.
With reference to the above-mentioned figures, reference numeral 1 is used to indicate a steam generating device associated with a food baking oven 2.
The oven 2 comprises a baking chamber 3 containing at least one air heating element, consisting for example of a heat exchanger 10 or of one or more electrical heating elements of known type on one or more walls of the baking chamber 3, and at least one fan 4 to keep the air in motion inside the baking chamber 3 and arranged adjacent to the heating element.
The steam generating device 1 associated with the oven 2 comprises a steam generator 5 connected to a water supply 6 and provided with a steam outflow duct 7 communicating with the baking chamber 3.
A water injection pipe 8, which is also connected to the water supply 6, is arranged inside the baking chamber 3 to spray water against the wall of the chamber 3 provided with the heating elements, preferably where the fan 4 is located.
Inside the baking chamber 3 there is also a deflector 9 arranged in front of and coaxially to the fan 4 to distribute and convey in a substantially uniform manner the hot air and/or the steam in the chamber 3.
Similarly, if the heating element consists of the heat exchanger 10, the latter surrounds the deflector 9 at least partially so that the heat is distributed more or less uniformly in the chamber 3.
Suitable control means 11, such as a printed circuit board, control the activation and deactivation of the steam generator 5 to carry out the process as will be better explained hereinbelow.
The combined steam generating process in the baking oven 2 includes a saturation step, in which the steam generator 5 is activated to obtain a substantial steam saturation in the baking chamber 3 through the steam supplied by the steam feeding pipe 7, and a spraying step in which the steam generator 5 is switched off and the steam in the baking chamber 3 is produced by water sprayed onto the heating elements through the water injection pipe 8. During the spraying step, the steam generator is temporarily and periodically activated to maintain the quality of the steam substantially constant, as exemplified in the diagram of FIG. 5, which shows how the combined process according to the present invention stabilizes the steam at the moment in which the instantaneous production drops by effect of the cooling down of the heating elements during the spraying step.
The activation and deactivation of the steam generator 5 is controlled by the control means 11, which are controlled by suitable sensing means detecting the percentage of moisture inside the chamber 3.
Advantageously, the steam generator 5 is thermostatically maintained in a pre-heating condition to enable it to be quickly activated at least during the spraying step.
With the process as described above, the temporary and periodic activation of the steam generator 5 during the spraying step, when the baking chamber 3 is saturated with steam, comprises a further feeding of steam into the chamber 3 that makes it possible to carry out cooking in static conditions, that is without stirring the air.
In addition, the saturation step may come before or after the spraying step, without thereby altering the substance of the inventive concept underlying the process described above.
From the above, it is thus evident how the present invention achieves the objectives and advantages initially set down: in fact a process was thought out in which two manners of steam generation, that is, by means of the steam generator 5 and by means of spraying water on the heating elements through the injection pipe 8, are combined with each other to supply a substantially constant steam quality, except for the initial starting phase, during the whole food cooking process. In fact, the temporary activation, controlled by the control means 11, of the steam generator 5 during the spraying phase makes it possible to restore the quality, or the correct percentage of humidity, of the steam at the moment in which the instantaneous production drops due to effect of cooling the heating elements during the spraying step.
With the process according to the present invention it is thus possible to achieve faster food cooking cycles while still maintaining an excellent level of cooking quality.
Naturally, the present invention is susceptible of numerous applications, modifications or variants without thereby departing from the scope of protection as defined by claim 1.
Moreover, the materials and equipment used to implement the present invention, as well as the shapes and dimensions of the individual components, may be the most suitable according to the specific requirements.